Pacing, not racing

The verdict is in:
Louisiana half is happening.
I'll be pacing one of our running group members. She's running the full, shooting for a 3:30. Since the course has been redesigned since the last time I ran this race, I can run with her for 11 miles before turning off for the half finish. If anyone else in our group happens to be doing a half in 1:45, I can pace them, too.

This puts me at 13 miles at a reasonable 8 minute pace - at or near what I've been running for my weekly "long" runs (a couple of ten milers, one twelve miler). Really, I've been under 8min/mi, since I have a bad habit of running close to the same pace for all of my runs, so I'm not worried about letting my friend down. I also doubt she needs a pacer, honestly, since she's a pretty experienced runner, but maybe I can help prevent a too-fast start...although I already agreed to run whatever she felt comfortable with, just to remind her of our pace every so often.

I think this is a good compromise. I get to enjoy a really fun race with a beautiful course, take part in the insanely good after-party, and join Varsity Sports for this event (almost our entire group is running). But I won't be tempted to overexert myself past my fitness, because I'll have the pressure of someone relying on me for a steady pace, and I won't run some silly too-hard, too-slow race that will only leave me disappointed in my capabilities and prone to injury.

I think that honestly my friend might be pacing me!

But anyway. I'm excited to be at this race. It's one of my favorites, and to this day I think it is my strongest marathon, if not my PR. It's just an overall wonderful race, so if you are one of those "50 states" types, you better do it: The generic Rock 'n Roll New Orleans experience is nothing close to the Louisiana Marathon.

And because I have nothing better to illustrate this post with, allow me to show swag:

Front of shirt and race bag - notice the zippered pocket in the bag! 

And this is the back of the shirt. They're gender-specific with a nice long tail.